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Properties of Networked Publics from kazys Varnelis on Vimeo.

make it in america., originally uploaded by d’emploi

The Box Office is a new office tower in Providence, RI designed by distill studio:

The Box Office consists of 12 office/studio spaces constructed from 32 recycled shipping containers on an abandoned strip of Providence history – the former Harris Lumber site. The project was designed by Joe Haskett, principal at Distill Studio, and developed by truth box, inc. The project will be built by Stack Design Build, LLC.
Among the many green features are a well-insulated exterior with high performance windows and doors, high efficiency heat pumps for economical heating and cooling, energy recovery ventilators (ERV) to conserve energy and to provide fresh air, and low-energy light fixtures and daylight harvesting to reduce electrical usage. Optional spiral stairs to create multi-level suites of 2, 3 containers or more are available. Green lease incentives for tenants to promote energy conservation and savings will be available.

We’ve covered shipping container architecture before, and I just can’t understand how people could work in a single ISO container for longer than a few hours. [Quick Interpolation: generally containers come in two types (in different lengths) but with the upshot that the usable gross interior height is either 7′-9″ or 8′-9″. In other words, the height of the container is either one or two feet taller than your standard US door.] For me, the proportions are all wrong; there is only so much of the container you can remove before the integrity (structural or theoretical) of the container degrades, thus creating long, narrow tube-like spaces. Not to mention once you add insulation, services and any additional structure, the net inhabitable space drops to less than 8′-0″ of head height (often less). I’ve seen proposals where the designer creates a double-height space by removing ceilings and floors, but at some point justifying economy of using containers becomes pure fetish.
Not the Freitag office isn’t beautiful.

Open House, originally uploaded by Yee-Haw Industries

The New National, originally uploaded by Mark.Weaver

2009 (10-21) Guggenheim Museum; 50th Anniversary; Free Day; Memory by Anish Kapoor, originally uploaded by straatis

I went to the Guggenheim yesterday to see Kandinsky (which is worth the price of admission) and came across Anish Kapoor’s work Memory – it is amazing. A light-tight cor-ten steel amorphous shape, where you move around and can peer into, is contained in a gallery off the main spiral.
Kapoor, along with Antony Gormley (especially Blind Light and Allotment II) and Olafur Eliasson (especially Take Your Time and the Waterfalls series which I have critiqued in the past) are creating works of sculpture, art and architecture which challenge our bodies in space. Their most successful projects, be it The Bean or The Weather Project or the Bean, are successful because they challenge our perceptions of the body in space and at the same time highlight that we are still corporeal agents in a physical world. Which is, more than ever, a needed reminder.
“Antony Gormley: Blind Light” exhibition by scottroberts
Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls at PS1
the weather project by *ade
Anish Kapoor Cloud Gate
Check out more Memory photos, but better yet, go to the Guggenheim to see Memory.

Guggenheim, originally uploaded by plemeljr

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